Sledgehammer's Cycles

Monday, July 1, 2013

Tab clearing

While there are no reported cases of cars being maliciously hacked in the real world, in 2010, researchers affiliated with the Center for Automotive Embedded Systems Security
(CAESS—a partnership between the University of California San Diego and
the University of Washington) demonstrated how to take over all of a
car’s vital systems by plugging a device into the OBD-II port under the
dashboard.

It gets worse. In a paper that’s due to be published later this year,
those same researchers remotely take control of an unnamed vehicle
through its telematics system. They also demonstrate that it’s
theoretically possible to hack a car with malware embedded in an MP3 and
with code transmitted over a Wi-Fi connection.

Such breaches are possible because the dozens of independently
operating computers on modern vehicles are all connected through an
in-car communications network known as a controller-area-network bus, or
CAN bus.

Covert radar tags were descried in a 2004 report by the National materials Advisory Board. Inkode, a company that also provides cheap RFID tags for supermarkets,
has developed a means of embedding aluminum fibers in paper and other
materials. The fibers are described as 6.5 millimeters long and 1.5
micrometers in diameter.

When illuminated with radar, the backscattered fields interact to
create a unique interference pattern that enables one tagged object to
be identified and differentiated from other tagged objects,” the company
says. “For nonmilitary applications, the reader is less than 1 meter
from the tag. For military applications, the reader and tag could
theoretically be separated by a kilometer or more.”

The fibers can be embedded in “paper, airline baggage tags, book
bindings, clothing and other fabrics, and plastic sheet.” Eight thousand
fibres can be embedded in a typical 8½ by 11 inch piece of paper, which
could be seen by radar at a similar distance to a meter-square target.
So even something as small as a cigarette paper could be detected
through walls, uniquely identified and precisely located from a
tactically-useful distance in order to direct a missile strike.

But fear not, Citizen - this tracking would never be automated in, say, traffic cameras and then find its way into NSA's metadata database.

In turning to Sweden, we find a classic case of bureaucratic
manipulation to destroy the state's principal rival as a focus of
loyalty: the family. Viewing this rivalry between state and family, it
is important to understand that a basic level of "dependency" is a
constant in all societies. In every human community, there are infants
and children, persons who are very old, individuals who have severe
handicaps, and others who are seriously ill. These people cannot take
care of themselves. Without help from others, they will die. Every
society must have a way of giving care to these dependents. Under the
domain of liberty, the natural institution of the family (supplemented
and supported by local communities and voluntary organizations) provides
the protection and care which these "dependent" people need. Indeed, it
is in the autonomous family—and only in the family—where the pure
socialist principle actually works: from each according to his ability,
to each according to his needs.

Short summary: The NSA's activities don't just stand to compromise the
privacy of ordinary citizens. They also stand to compromise the
privacy, and thus the integrity, of government officials.

Legislators. Judges.

Generals.

How many prominent government officials who have publicly opposed the
administration have had personal scandals thrown into public view in the
past few years and been forced out of office?

The only thing I would add is Paula Dean. The Roman Republic foundered when those hungry for power instituted proscription - the publication of a list of names allowing anyone interested to kill the named individuals and take some of their property. Today's enlightened world won't sink to crass bloodletting (well, maybe) but that same power grabbing instinct shows the same appetite to destruction of personal fortune. As long as it advances the political careers of The Right Sort Of People™.

As Joe Huffman pointed out (http://blog.joehuffman.org/2013/06/29/what-gets-prosecuted/) "The most commonly crime prosecuted in the former East Germany in the five years before the unification was failure to report a crime you knew about.When the state knows everything, then NOT being a rat becomes more dangerous than being a criminal giving the police a cut of the action for protection..."

And, speaking of the Stasi, does "See something, say something" ring a bell, Dr. Pavlov? Read this for some more lighthearted thoughts:http://fff.org/explore-freedom/article/creating-a-culture-of-denunciation/